The Turkish position on Security and Guarantees had been submitted in writing at Crans Montana in the summer of 2017 and the UN Secretary-General was attempting to lure Ankara with gifts that Greek Cypriots would give.
The secret UN minutes concerning the second meeting between Guterres and Çavuşoğlu (6 July 2017, Krann Montana, 4.30 p.m. local time) are sufficiently revealing of what took place against Nicosia, behind closed doors. publishes today the minutes of the meeting.
According to the minutes, the G.G. “wanted to discuss with Mr. Çavuşoğlu how to convince the Greek Cypriots that a very positive development on the issue of security and guarantees could only be achieved through substantial concessions in the other four chapters.
If he succeeded, he would be able to put an informal proposal on the table.” Mr Guterres asked whether Turkey would accept a reduction in its troops to the level provided for in the Alliance Treaty.
Mr. Çavuşoğlu indicated that the Alliance Treaty provided for 650 Turkish soldiers. “We accepted this number in 2004. However, times are changing. Given the conditions outside Cyprus (Syria, action, terrorism) the number of soldiers should be greater than this one, especially if there is a Turkish base (on the island)”.
The G.G. asked whether a long-term review of the presence of the troops would be acceptable to Turkey. Mr Çavuşoğlu said that he was not in a position to answer this question. However, he could tell him that Turkish Cypriots would never accept this because they would not feel safe.
It is noted that Anastasiades had already submitted proposals on all issues, but from the minutes it does not appear that the General Secretary informed the Turks.
